Profiling of Altered Metabolomic States in Bidens pilosa Leaves in Response to Treatment by Methyl Jasmonate and Methyl Salicylate

Bidens pilosa (Asteraceae) is an edible medicinal plant with many bioactivities reported to have a health-beneficial role in controling various diseases. Though B. pilosa contain a diverse array of natural products, these are produced in relatively low concentrations. A possible way to enhance secondary metabolite production can be through the use of elicitors. Here, the effects of exogenous treatments with two signal molecules—methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and methyl salicylate (MeSA)—on the metabolomic profiles of B. pilosa leaves were investigated. Plants were treated with 0.5 mM of MeJA or MeSA and harvested at 12 h and 24 h. Metabolites were extracted with methanol and separated on an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography system hyphenated to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection. Data was subjected to multivariate statistical analysis and modeling for annotation of metabolites. Hydroxycinnamic acid (HCA) derivatives, such as caffeoylquinic acids (CQAs), tartaric acid esters (chicoric acid and caftaric acid), chalcones, and flavonoids were identified as differentially regulated. The altered metabolomes in response to MeSA and MeJA overlapped to a certain extent, suggestive of a cross-talk between signaling and metabolic pathway activation. Moreover, the perturbation of isomeric molecules, especially the cis geometrical isomers of HCA derivatives by both treatments, further point to the biological significance of these molecules during physiological responses to stress. The results highlight the possibility of using phytohormones to enhance the accumulation of bioactive secondary metabolites in this plant.